Ian Broudie only earned £6k when Three Lions made Number 1

26 July 2021, 11:17 | Updated: 13 December 2021, 09:06

The Lightning Seeds frontman once revealed how much he'd made from the classic football song when it topped the charts.

The Lightning Seeds' frontman Ian Broudie has claimed he only made around £6,000 when Three Lions reached Number 1.

The classic football anthem, which also features comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner topped the charts during the 2018 World Cup. The song was reissued in 2021 for its 25th anniversary and again proved popular when England made it through to the final of Euro 2020.

But in a discussion about the tiny amounts artists are paid for streaming sales, Gomez guitarist Tom Gray recalled being stunned by how little Broudie was paid when he asked him about his pay cheque in 2019.

Speaking to The Mirror, Gray said: “I was playing at a festival in 2019 with the Lightning Seeds.

“And I said ‘Hey, you know that song of yours. How much money did you make from it during the World Cup?’… He said about six grand.

"And it took me a while to wipe my jaw off the floor.”

David Baddiel talks Three Lions with Chris Moyles

Last year, Chris Moyles asked David Baddiel how many copies Three Lions has sold to date, the writer and comedian said: "In 2018 or whatever, it was downloaded millions and millions of times.

"Occasionally whenever England do well and the song suddenly rises up and people love it, I always get a slightly cynical strand of men who start going on about royalties.

"I want to say to them: 'Do you know how much you get from Spotify?' Because I believe someone worked it out.

"I saw a newspaper article which said that it had been downloaded at England [vs] Columbia something like 16 million times, which works out between me, Frank [Skinner] and [Lightning Seeds frontman] Ian Broudie at something like 900 quid between us!"